fatbongo

Although conspiracy theories frequently draw massive attention online, actual believers usually represent a minority of the broader public. Still, those who endorse these narratives often assume their views are widely shared. www.psypost.org/people-who-b...

The latest iteration/front group for the Voices for Freedom led cooker coalition Fun fact: The US version 'MAHA Action' is run by Dr Assem Malhotra who lies a lot eg he claimed the GB Royals got cancer from the COVID jab t.ly/ruWL9 The VFF coalition toured him around NZ fundy churches in 2023

This primary school principal was conned by Voices for Freedom's antivax bullshit and got active in their front group 'NZTSOS' She lost her job, can no longer teach and has to pay £22750 The tribual found a '“remarkable dearth” of insight, remorse or reflection'. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...

A senior figure in New Zealand First’s youth wing has been linked to a neo-Nazi group and online accounts that praised Adolf Hitler. Great work from @comingupcharlie.bsky.social www.thepress.co.nz/politics/361...

The actual harsh truth about MAHA is that it is an anti-vaxx, anti-science, pro-diarrhea conspiracy movement. It cloaks its arguments in abstractions about "big pharma" and "free speech" to generate *the exact op-ed The Atlantic keeps publishing*. Movements like this need to be fought, not placated.

I agree with this whole thread. Especially this.

How The Right Wing Hijacks Maori Influencers: Weaponising Mãori Identity Against the Treaty -which protects NZers human rights, environment & assets from marauding corporations #nzpol #Māori #AtlasNetwork #division open.substack.com/pub/drhsingh...

This is correct.

the maga theory of how you establish an authoritarian state

This kiwi kid has suffered awfully from whooping cough and may now have a brain injury. But you have to read down to the end of the article to find out they weren't vaccinated. Meanwhile antivax cookers Voices For Freedom are busy marketing Xmas merch. www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-adv...

Just to show the absurdity of the analysis - Imagine - 45 studies of looking at Venus through a beer bottle finds evidence of rings around Venus - 1 study of looking at Venus through a telescope finds no rings Would you conclude "there is evidence that Venus has rings"?

Quick Test: - 45 studies of 0.3-20k children over 2-10 years based on interviews without any control yield 20% increased risk - 1 study based on 2.5m children over 25 years based on medical data shows 10% but, after control against siblings, shows 0% increase What is the scientific conclusion?

This is incoherent and hypocritical given NZFs stances on supposed plots to undermine NZs sovereignty & foreigners in general But it won't make a blind bit of difference to his cooker support base, because all their stated values and principles are fig leaves to hide their authoritarianism.

I strongly recommend fine documentary “A Shot in the Arm” on vaccine hesitancy & its (often well-paid) promoters, incl RFK, Jr. www.pbs.org/video/shot-i... Watch whole thing, but especially: 34:32-onward RFK, Jr 43:45-50:27 Samoa deaths: he denies/evades involvement, video records contradict.

Remembering Charlie Kirk's Greatest Hits

Tom Phillips is dead after a police shooting, and his three children have been found alive. The immediate danger is over. But a larger question lingers: who decided Tom Phillips was safe enough to be left alone with his children - and why? My story: www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...

It's official: NZ First is the cooker party

Gift link:

Antivaxxers constantly lie about vaccines causing mass deaths and injuries to stoke anger They promote 'Nuremberg 2.0' to frame retribution as "protective violence" And use this threat of violence to intimidate/silence their critics The "medical freedom" movement is extremist and authoritarian

New Guardian article about the Bhattacharya op-ed www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025... 1/4

NEW: The CDC shooting was much worse than initially reported. 181 rounds. 150 windows hit. Staff are furious at RFK Jr. and Trump becuz their long-running fears about anti-vax rhetoric turning deadly seem to be vindicated. @laurenweberhp.bluesky.social + Me. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

🧵I keep seeing/hearing mention of QAnon's "Satanic sex-trafficking pedophiles" conspiracy & hand to God it makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills that NO ONE MENTIONS THE ANTISEMITISM. They are talking about Jews. They are talking about Jews. They are talking about Jews. HERE LET ME HELP:

McKernan was one Voices for Freedom "expert witnesses" at the COVID Inquiry. He said "what I'm about to say will shock you" before giving a long presentation on his debunked theory that COVID vaccines change your DNA. So no surprise he, like VFF, is "not an antivaxxer" who opposes all vaccines

In this year's local government elections, all kinds of people are running. But some of them aren't necessarily who they seem. Charlie Mitchell sets out how the "freedom movement" - riddled with conspiracy theory - is organising, on the down-low: www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607... 1/

At this point the only evidence they need for anything is "The people you hate said the opposite".

Secrecy, spin, media training and blatant dishonesty - including passing themselves off under false identities - are hallmarks of "concerned citizens" groups spearheading a right wing push to grab council seats around New Zealand www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/3607... #nzpol

Berlinski: “So I was genuinely surprised—after all that drama and the buildup!—to discover that no, there is not one single word in these documents that says anything like what Gabbard claims. No reasonable speaker of English could read them and draw those conclusions.”

We look at the seamless transition of the so-called 'freedom movement' from vaccines to gender, the ways transphobic politics connects elements of the fascist-right, and how Peters and NZ First are at the pointy end of attempts to manufacture a coercive state response to the gender moral panic

Voices For Freedom have just emailed their members urging them to stand in local body elections. Although they do want members to stand in contested seats, this call for action is specifically to seek out uncontested seats. 1/

Voices for Freedom's Covid Inquiry submission promised to expose "the truths the public was never meant to see" It claims Kary Mullis, inventor of the PCR test, said it "specifically should not have been used to detect covid" But Mullis died in August 2019, months before anyone knew about covid

Members of far-right, antivax conspiracy theorist group Voices for Freedom happily stood alongside fascists issuing death threats Now the COVID enquiry is giving them exactly what they always wanted - an official platform to promote antivax propaganda What does that say about NZ politics? #nzpol

An anti-vax conspiracy theory is/was NZ has been mismeasuring its living population, so estimated death rates were too low. Stats NZ has finished the retrospective 2018-2023 population estimates in light of the 2023 census, and it will surprise no-one here NZ still had below expected death rates

And now, flawless arguments from the most pressing issue facing voters during a cost of living crisis.

"Delaying the onset of puberty in kids seems like it's punitive, as if they believe neurodivergent people don't deserve normal sexual development. "Kennedy prefers kids get measles." His cousin called him a "predator." She wasn't exaggerating. www.salon.com/2025/04/14/r...

In a tried & true playbook, when you can't make progress on the things that ACTUALLY matter (cost of living, health care, jobs), it's time to rile up the conspiracy nuts as a distraction. This is Anti-health, anti-science, & will most hurt the marginalised. www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heath...

@keithng.bsky.social good source re Inwood @undupable.bsky.social